Men's Cross Country | 9/26/2009 10:23:35 PM

Click here for meet results

HOUGHTON, NY -- The RIT men's cross country team had the five top finishers en route to a blowout win at the Highlander hosted by Houghton College on Saturday. RIT finished with a team score of 15 points, defeating 11 other squads, including second place Ithaca by 45 points.  RIT's top five finishers all broke the 26-minute barrier.

Senior Jared Burdick (Manlius, NY/Fayetteville-Manlius) paced the field, finishing first out of 132 runners, blazing the 8,000-meter course in a time of 25:27.20.  Mike Brindak (Syracuse, NY/Solvay) was second, 12 seconds behind Burdick.  Mike Kurvach (Victor, NY/Victor) was third in a time of 25:45.90.  Nick Meeker (Hamburg, NJ/Wallkill Valley) was fourth in a time of 25:55.70, while William Craig (Rochester, NY/Gates-Chili) rounded out the top five, four seconds behind Meeker.

Sophomore Mike Bradley (Penfield, NY/Penfield) recorded an impressive 11th place finish in a strong time of 26:44.60.

Many of the men had individual breakout races that helped to show the strength and depth of the team. Brindak, Kurvach, Meeker, Craig, Bradley, Adam Irr (Newfane, NY/Newfane) (27:18), John Holleran (West Warwick, RI/Bishop Hendricken) (27:28), John Lueders (Hamburg, N.Y./Frontier Central) (27:32), Jeremy Cook (Rochester, NY/Aquinas Institute) (27:34), Sam Wettstein (Nekoosa, WI/Nekoosa) (27:49), Benjamin Kier (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-Dewitt) (28:07), and Bill Doll (Carlisle, PA/Carlisle) (28:59) all finished the race with new personal records.

RIT returns to action on Saturday, October 3 when they compete at the SUNY Geneseo Invitational at Letchworth State Park. The men's race gets underway at 12 p.m.